This invention relates to a process for the treatment of tobacco. More particularly, this invention relates to a aprocess for treating tobacco stems with a mixed culture of bacteria and fungi for the degradation of pectin and cellulose in tobacco.
In the processing of tobacco for use in the manufacture of smoking producs, many times it is desired to treat the tobacco to remove undesirable components therein. In tobacco processing, various parts of the tobacco plants, such as lamina, veins, ribs and/or stems, although useful, are not necessarily in the proper size for incorporation into tobacco products. Because of their rigid cellular nature, the stems, veins and ribs normally require considerable mechanical work to provide a usuable tobacco product. To treat tobacco to break down the pectin or cellulose, which holds these plant segments together, microbial digestion has been proposed in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,608 teaches the use of a pure culture of Erwinia carotovora to degrade the pectin binder in tobacco.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,513,857 teaches a tobacco stem treatment using polysaccharide-hydrolyzing enzymes exhibiting catalytic pectinase, cellulase and hemicellulase. U.S. Pat. No. 3,242,214 also teaches treatment of tobacco stems with water in a catalytic enzyme system wherein the system includes cellulase, hemicellulase and pectinase. U.S. Pat. No. 3,132,651 teaches the treating of tobacco in an aqueous mixture with cellulase from Aspergillus fungal species and then further treating with cellulase and proteolytic enzymes.